Taste thresholds increase with age but the increase is relatively small. Taste quality identification appears to be relatively normal in the elderly. Thus there is litte indication of sensory abnormality and yet many elderly individuals complain that foods tastes weak. Previously unevaluated abnormalities in the taste systems of the aged could account for this. As a function of stimulus intensity, perceived taste intensity may grow abnormally slowly in the aged so that foods which contain relatively strong concentrations of taste substances would taste weak compared to sensations remembered from earlier years. Alternatively, perceived intensity could be reduced by a constant percentage for all concentrations. We propose to test these hypothesized taste abnormalities in the elderly in the following way: elderly subjects and young (college aged) control subjects will scale the perceived intensities of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, and quinine hydrochloride as well as the perceived loudness of sounds. The auditory scaling is intended to provide a non-taste standard for the taste evaluations. We also propose to reevaluate taste thresholds in the elderly with improved procedures.